


6:05

by UnicornFlowers (orphan_account)



Series: Kuroken because I Kurocan [10]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fate is such a cruel bitch, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Graduation, Kenma only loses his cool once in a century and this is that century, Love, M/M, Nostalgia, Poor babies they just wanna be together, they deserve happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/UnicornFlowers
Summary: "And you'll call to remind me and I'll make it up to you. Just think of it like this: there are only three-hundred and sixty-five days in a year. And between being captain of Nekoma and school, the days will pass like seconds. You can even count them if you want.""You're telling me a year is going to pass in six minutes and five seconds?""Exactly."
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Kuroken because I Kurocan [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975318
Comments: 7
Kudos: 143





	6:05

♡♢

"I'm not mad!" 

The outburst was unusual. Kenma only ever lost his temper once in a year and it was never over something as trivial as a screwed up set. Maybe, _maybe_ he lost his cool over being beaten by a boss in a game he'd probably invested too much time in. But he never lost it over volleyball. He never lost it over things so stupid, so inconsequential as a slightly off day. And he was currently in the midst of the most off day Kuroo had seen from him yet. 

There was something wrong. There had been all day and it came out especially during practice. Kenma was smart and calculating, and even though he didn't have the monster talent of someone like Kageyama, he was always dead precise when he was setting. But today, he was messy, sloppy. His sets, his perfect sets, were lower than necessary, too far to the right, too soft, too far. And each and every time he messed up just slightly, despite his teammate's encouragements, it only seemed to pile onto his building frustration. Like adding kindling to the fire that was on the brink of burning down a forest. 

"Kitten, just calm down," Kuroo's gentle hand on his shoulder should've been comforting, but it just seemed to make Kenma angrier. And for once, Kuroo couldn't read him. He could _always_ read his best friend. It didn't matter what the situation was, Kuroo could always figure out just what Kenma was thinking before Kenma himself even knew. 

"Don't call me that! I told you not to call me that!" Kuroo's hand was torn from the smaller boy's shoulder, blunt nails digging into his pulse as Kenma slammed the volleyball in his hands into the floor. Kuroo couldn't say he'd ever seen Kenma so worked up before, and it was a shock to their teammates too, who, to say the least, had never been in the situation of needing to calm Kenma down. 

"Okay...okay, Kenma. Hey, just talk to me. Tell me what's wrong." 

"Nothing is wrong! I'm FINE!" Kuroo's breath hitched in his throat as he saw the tears shimmering in Kenma's honey-golden eyes. He'd only seen Kenma cry over two things in his life before. The first was injuries, and the second was the time in fourth grade that Kuroo took away his PSP and forced him to play volleyball with him for the first time. He'd never seen Kenma cry over anything less serious than a sprained ankle since. So this...this didn't feel right. 

"You're...crying, Kit- Kenma. What's going on-"

"It's all pointless, okay?! All this practice we do! It's fucking pointless!" Kuroo's eyebrows furrowed, but he kept his expression gentle. The last thing Kenma needed now was to feel accused, even if he was saying something that Kuroo was having a hard time fathoming. And when Kenma turned, Kuroo couldn't imagine a more painful image. His tears, his lips swollen from biting, his cheeks flushed in a combination of embarrassment and anger. "We practice so fucking hard and for what?! So we can maybe win!? So we can win for one year and then WHAT?! And then the third-years l-leave and- and then we just... _We do it all fucking over again without them_?! Why does it even matter?!"

_Oh._

It all became suddenly clear, like he had just finished wiping the fog off a mirror. Graduation. It suddenly made sense. The grumpy moods that surrounded him whenever graduation became a topic in classes, the way he avoided the subject with a passion whenever it came up naturally in conversation, how he refused to even _talk_ about the idea of Kuroo going to an overseas college. The Nekoma captain inwardly kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. He should've read the signs like he read Kenma's eyes and the way the smaller boy's lips moved. 

It made Kuroo's chest hurt, an aching sort of pain because it was inevitable. It was an unstoppable sort of sting, destined to become reality. There was no stopping the fact that, by the end of the year, Kuroo would be leaving Nekoma and he couldn't say anything that would change that. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to fix this. And it made him ache. If there were magic words, anything he could do to make Kenma feel better, he would do it in a heartbeat. But...

"S-Stop staring at me," Kenma's chest rose up and down, the only movement among the silence that permeated the air like a heavy fog. Kuroo could feel his stress, the ugly amalgamation of the pain of Kuroo's leaving and the anxiety that came with being stared at like a caged animal - pitied. Kuroo had always been able to sense Kenma's emotions, and this time was no different. He could feel the embarrassment, the same of his outburst, the humiliation he felt radiating off of the setter in waves that made Kuroo's chest tighten. 

"Are you..." Lev's voice was small, an unfinished statement that caused Kenma to turn his head down in order to let his two-toned hair shield his eyes red from crying. 

"Leave me alone...please," The aggressive statement was softened by the last word, but his exit from the gym into the pouring spring rain was still harsh and rushed, as fast as he could possibly manage without flat out sprinting. And that's how he left them, stunned into a sad sort of silence, with the thoughts they'd all aggressively pushed to the back of their minds weighing heavy over them like storm clouds. But Kuroo understood. It was always so much harder to be the one left behind. And Kuroo knew that, which is why he was out of the gym before the questions of his teammates could reach his ears and weigh him down. 

☾

He found Kenma sitting under a cherry blossom tree, knees hugged to his rain-soaked figure, head down. And Kuroo's chest ached for him as the Nekoma captain sat down next to his setter. Because Kenma was always the calm one. When Kuroo thought the world was going to fall apart, Kenma was there to tell him he was being stupid, that he was worrying over nothing. But Kuroo couldn't say that to him. Because he _was_ worried. He was worried about being apart from Kenma. Worried about losing him because he wasn't there every day to remind Kenma that he was there for him. 

"Hey," No response, not even a sound. The silence was deafening. "Look at me, Kitten," Kuroo coaxed with a gentle whisper, placing the knuckle of his index finger under Kenma's chin and lifting it just slightly so their eyes were forced to meet. He caught the smaller boy's golden eyes and, if Kuroo was brave enough to say the words pushing at his chest, sitting on the tip of his tongue, he would've. But he wasn't. "You're gonna be okay."

"And what if I'm not?" Kuroo's heart almost broke at Kenma's words because he sounded so _scared_. And because he could tell that the setter was trying to hide it. Like he was embarrassed that he would crumble without Kuroo's steady presence. Because he would. Kenma was going to fall to small pieces without Kuroo keeping him glued together.

Who was going to remind him to eat lunch even though he wasn't hungry in the slightest? Who was going tell him to go to sleep when Animal Crossing became too all-consuming to put away? Who was going to cram knowledge into his brain one night before a test that Kenma had forgotten to study for? Who was he going to escape to when people were loud and school was crushing and the weight of the world seemed to rest on his shoulders?

"What is it you're scared of?" Kuroo's whisper drew him back to reality, rough thumb running over his cheek as he turned Kenma's head, forcing their eyes to lock. It was really unfair how Kuroo always managed to gain the upper hand like that. It was as if the middle-blocker knew his best friend was desperately in love with him and used it to his advantage in the worst way.

"That you're gonna go off to college and find people who are mature like you and actually want to do stuff instead of just playing videogames and you're going to forget about me," Kenma admitted, less bitter than he might want. He wanted to sound upset and sharp, he wanted his words to be pointed, if only to veil his guilt. But his voice was soft and pliant, barely a whisper that revealed the watery tears still in his eyes in the way that caused the end of his sentence to break. And Kuroo wanted to pull him into his chest and hold him and kiss him until he fell asleep, soundly and safe, a peaceful sleep out of which he would wake refreshed and _happy_. 

But he didn't do any of that, instead choosing to indulge in the feeling of Kenma's soft skin against his knuckles, the gentle bob of his Adam's apple against the back of Kuroo's hand as he held Kenma's face in his hand. 

"It scares me that you even think me forgetting about you is a possibility," _Never. Never in a million years. We could spend a fucking lifetime apart and all I'd be able to think about is you._ His thoughts remained silent, but his voice didn't. He captured the setter's golden eyes with his, firm gaze locking Kenma in place as he gently forced the smaller boy's chin up. "Hey, _look at me,_ Kenma. Just because I'm going to college doesn't mean we're suddenly ghosting each other. I'm going to call you every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed."

"You can't promise that. One day you'll forget and then you'll forget the next day and-" Kuroo wouldn't forget. He couldn't. It would be all he thought about, the best part of his day. And that was a fact. A fact he kept to himself to save face (though he knew Kenma could probably read it in his eyes), but a fact nonetheless. 

"And you'll call to remind me and I'll make it up to you. Just think of it like this: there are only three-hundred and sixty-five days in a year. And between being captain of Nekoma and school, the days will pass like seconds. You can even count them if you want."

"You're telling me a year is going to pass in six minutes and five seconds?" Kenma couldn't help but snark despite the tears still resting in his eyes, because it earned him a beautiful smile from his best friend. A smile that made sweet-tasting words bubble to Kenma's tongue, forcing him to clamp his lips shut to keep them from spilling forward. _I love you._

"Exactly," Kuroo's smile was cheeky to hide the blush that made his cheeks burn at their proximity. He could feel Kenma's body heat radiating off of him despite the rain, the warmth flowing off him in waved. Kuroo couldn't help but lean into him holding in a contented sigh that threatened to escape his lips at just being so _close_ to Kenma. As cliché as it sounded, the setter really did give him butterflies. "And you know what's after that?" Kenma looked at him cynically, crystal tears still sitting in those pretty eyes of him. 

"What?"

"The rest of our lives, Kitten. You and me forever, just like always," Kuroo held up his pinky like a child, not caring how juvenile he must look with a stupid grin plastered on his lips and his little finger extended patiently. Kenma had always made fun of Kuroo when they were kids for his obsession with pinky-swearing everything. He knew Kenma would never make a promise he made, but the physical confirmation had done wonders for his psyche as a stupid middle-schooler. And as the years went on, it just became a habit the two of them had picked up. 

"You and me, just like always," Kenma looped his pinky around Kuroo's, keeping their fingers intertwined unconsciously even as they lowered their hands. It was warm and permanent, a knot tying them together forever. Even if he had to let go, he could still keep this memory filed away for other rainy days. 

"And... I have something to give you, something to help you remember me. Assuming you want it," Kuroo whispered, his adoration for the setter flowing through the silence between them. Even as a look of utter confusion settled itself across Kenma's beautiful features, he was so perfectly beautiful that it made Kuroo's chest ache with a pleasant kind of pain. _Want._ He _wanted_ so bad. And his breaths came out short and stifled because he was trying not to completely breakdown and lose his composure as Kenma whispered, 

"What is it?"

"I'll give you a hint. It involves me doing this..." One of Kuroo's hands came up to cup Kenma's face so gently that it sent shiver's down the setter's spine, and Kuroo was awestruck at how beautiful he was. The way his breath hitched, the slight blush on his cheeks that he would insist was from the cold of the warm spring rain, his lips so glossy from rain and swollen slightly from crying, pink and _kissable._ God, Kuroo wanted to kiss him. But consent was an important thing. "And leaning kind of like...this..." His body followed his words, slowly but surely leaning into Kenma so that their chests were flush against each other and Kuroo could feel the rapid beating of his heart. Kuroo's heart sped up to match it as fire consumed his blood, causing it to burn beneath his skin and pool in his cheeks. 

"Tetsu..." Kenma breathed out. He ached. He ached to feel Kuroo's lips pressed against his and his hands in his hair and his strong arms around his waist. Kenma ached for the safety and the promise that it meant, the silent _I'll never leave you_ it implied. He ached for it almost painfully, the burning desire for it stealing the oxygen from his lungs and causing shivers to dance down his spine. 

"Stop?" Kuroo breathed out a one-word question, one that told Kenma, _please don't say stop. I want you. So, so much._ Which is why Kenma's only answer to, _"Stop?"_ was,

"No."  
  
Stardust scorched bruises against Kuroo's lips as Kenma returned a light brush of their lips with an ardent kiss, laden with a syrupy sweet kind of affection, brimming with a desperate kind of want. Kuroo pushed back, tongue pressing against the seam of Kenma's lips, parting them gently and forcing him to breathe in a gasp at the sweet, _hot_ sensation. And Kenma tasted _so good._ Like strawberries and every summer afternoon they'd spent together practicing volleyball and every rainy day just like this one they'd spent laying on Kuroo's couch with Kenma curled into his side. Every perfect moment filled with Kenma, every second of _them._

Kuroo released Kenma's lips with a soft sound, pulling the sweetest gasp from the setter, a breathless confirmation that he was secretly needy beneath his lazy-eyed, sarcastic exterior. Kuroo ate it up, breathing in the syrupy sweetness of the moment. It was perfect. A perfect, _perfect_ moment. And Kuroo would keep it forever, in his back pocket, a beautiful snapshot of them in time. And he would remind Kenma of it when they were together again forever, when they had all the time in the world. 

Kenma just rested his head in the crook of Kuroo's neck, warm breath fanning the captain's collarbone and sending shivers down his spine. And Kuroo never wanted the perfect moment bathed in warmth and filtered in sweet summer rain to end, but they were still in the present. It was honestly what Kuroo loved most about this. Them, surrounded by rain under the blushing pinks of a cherry blossom tree. They were in the present. He wasn't ready for them to be nostalgia yet. They weren't a memory yet. Because they were here. Kenma was here with him right now and he was going to cherish this moment for as long as the present would let him. 

"So, you wanna go back to practice?" Kuroo finally whispered, drawing the smallest of actions from Kenma, the subtle shake of his head that Kuroo had been expecting. Of course he wouldn't want to. God, _Kuroo_ didn't want to. 

"Can we just say here?" _Yes. For as long as you'll let me hold you, I'll sit here with you._

"I thought you might say that," Kuroo just settled around him as Kenma curled into him gently, lips resting softly against the crook of Kuroo's neck, hands caressing every available inch of him. Kenma treated him gently, like something beautiful he was scared of breaking. "I'll have Lev close up."

"Hey...um, Tetsu?" Back again was Kenma's rapidly beating heart, reverberating against Kuroo's chest and hindering his ability to breathe properly. The feeling alone, of being so close, held flush against each other, seemed to cause all language skills that Kuroo had been developing over eighteen years of his life to suddenly leave him, forcing him to release a breathless, _"hm?"_ in response. Kenma just lifted his head, pressing his lips to the corner of Kuroo's jawline as he whispered, " _I love you._ " 

"I love you too, Kitten," The words came out so much easier than Kuroo thought they would. He thought the first time he told someone he loved them would be hard and scary, but it was exactly the opposite. It was the easiest thing he'd ever done, the most obvious choice, the clearest path. And he loved every minute of walking it. 

"Do you...promise to call me every morning and every night?"

"Promise."  
  
And Kuroo kept his promise. He called Kenma every morning first thing after he woke up, which was now later than his _boyfriend,_ and every night as the last thing he did before he went to bed. And whether it was an hour-long conversation about the vast-inner-workings of the universe, ending only when their phones died or if one of them fell asleep to the sweet lull of the other's voice, or a fifteen-minute debrief of their days that ended in hushed _I love you's_ depended completely on whether or not Kenma could still stand after practice and Kuroo's ability to stay coherent. But either way, Kuroo never missed a day. And, in truth, it wasn't three hundred and sixty-five days without Kuroo because there were those magical days during winter and spring break when Kuroo visited his boyfriend and his team, and those were the days Kenma truly lived for. But, the point is that, in the end, Kuroo was right. The days passed like seconds, and in no time at all.

Well, a little time. Six minutes and five seconds, to be exact.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆


End file.
